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Bath woman gets prison in kidnapping

A Bath woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Monday in U.S. District Court for kidnapping a Wellsboro woman and her infant child at knifepoint and taking them from Pennsylvania to New York.

Billie Jo Ribble, 36, pleaded guilty in March before U.S. District Judge David G. Larimer in Rochester to the kidnapping that occurred on March 1, 2013.

Ribble was originally arrested on March 1, 2013, in Tioga County, Pa., on a Steuben County arrest warrant in connection with an October 2012 burglary in the Town of Howard.

Police said that while in custody, Ribble complained of stomach pains due to a pregnancy and was taken to a Wellsboro hospital. She assaulted a Tioga County sheriff's deputy who was guarding her, jumped out a window and escaped, authorities said.

After her escape, Ribble made her way into the basement of a Wellsboro home where the woman and her infant daughter were asleep. At 11:30 p.m., the woman was awakened by Ribble, who was standing over her daughter's crib holding a large butcher's knife, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

While still holding the knife, Ribble allegedly picked up the child and threatened to kill the woman and her child, and herself, if the woman did not take Ribble where she wanted to go.

The woman got into the driver's seat of her car, and Ribble got into the front passenger seat, still holding the woman's daughter and the butcher's knife. At Ribble's direction, the woman drove from Pennsylvania to an exit off Route 15 in Lindley, where Ribble was dropped off. The woman then drove to a gas station in Pennsylvania and called the police.

Ribble was eventually traced to her boyfriend's residence on Decatur Street in Corning. Ribble initially barricaded herself in the attic, but she eventually surrendered to authorities without incident.

The crimes were investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Steuben County Sheriff's Office, New York State Police, Pennsylvania State Police and the Wellsboro Police Department.